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		<header>
			<h1>Someone jacked my bike!</h1>
			<p>Day 00891: <time>Monday, 2017 August 14</time></p>
		</header>
<section id="to-do">
	<h2>To-do list</h2>
	<ul>
		<li>
			Acquire stuff for my new home:
			<ul>
				<li>
					A bed
				</li>
				<li>
					A dustpan
				</li>
				<li>
					A carpet broom
				</li>
			</ul>
		</li>
		<li>
			Inform people that I&apos;ve moved
			<ul>
				<li>
					Relevant online accounts
				</li>
			</ul>
		</li>
		<li>
			Finish stabilizing <a href="https://git.volatile.ch./y.st./include.d/releases">include.d</a> and put out another release (low priority)
		</li>
		<li>
			Clean up my apartment
			<ul>
				<li>
					Clean up the kitchen
				</li>
			</ul>
		</li>
		<li>
			Finish the library&apos;s &quot;bingo&quot; sheet (these tasks were typed verbatim, and include any mistakes and quirks present on the sheet handed to me)
			<ul>
				<li>
					<del>Attend any library program</del>
				</li>
				<li>
					<del>Read a graphic novel</del>
				</li>
				<li>
					Browse the Gale Virtual Reference Library. A librarian can help!
				</li>
				<li>
					Build, draw, or make something based on a book that you read
				</li>
				<li>
					Read a science fiction title
				</li>
				<li>
					Share a book recommendation
				</li>
				<li>
					Read an award-winning book
				</li>
				<li>
					Suggest a library program you would attend
				</li>
				<li>
					Read something funny and have a good laugh :)
				</li>
				<li>
					Look at the art in the City Hall Gallery. There&apos;s a new show every month!
				</li>
				<li>
					Volunteer for a couple hours at a community organization of your choice.
				</li>
				<li>
					Download one of the library&apos;s free apps or search in a database. A librarian can help!
				</li>
				<li>
					Read a book that takes place in another country
				</li>
			</ul>
		</li>
	</ul>
</section>
<section id="general">
	<h2>General news</h2>
	<p>
		When I got out of my self-publishing seminar, I found that someone had jacked my bike!
		They cut though my lock, and ditched the helmet that I&apos;d locked to the bike.
		I <strong>*just*</strong> sunk $55 <abbr title="United States Dollars">USD</abbr> into replacing the tires on that thing!
		They probably saw the new tires and thought it was a new bike.
		It&apos;s probably not what they expected because that bike has several issues, but it&apos;s still wasted money for me on fixing it up and it&apos;ll still cost even more to replace the bike.
	</p>
	<p>
		My neighbour said I might be able to get a bike from Bring for about six dollars, so I&apos;ll walk to Eugene tomorrow to try.
		If I can&apos;t get a working bike there, I&apos;ll have to walk back, which will be a pain.
		They said I might have to buy the parts separately and assemble them, which will mean several trips, all on foot.
		If that doesn&apos;t work, I&apos;ll need to get one from a second-hand store, which will cost more.
	</p>
	<p>
		Last time I was there, it looked like they had tones of bikes.
		I don&apos;t know if any were complete bikes, but they looked like it from afar.
		I don&apos;t know how much they cost, but it might be less than elsewhere.
		It&apos;s certainly worth a look.
	</p>
	<p>
		My <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> still sings the tune of freedom and transparency.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="library">
	<h2>Library task list</h2>
	<p>
		I headed to the library to check out the next book.
		One task was to search a database, so I asked how to search for graphic novels released before the year 1923.
		The librarian said the database wouldn&apos;t be a great way to do that, but a Web search might help.
		I&apos;d tried that already, but they used different search terms than I did.
		The results surprised me.
		That genre of book didn&apos;t exist that long ago.
		There are no public domain graphic novels.
		I need to read something newer.
		Out of surprise, I decided to check out whatever, though after walking out of the library with my selection, I remembered that I also have Creative Commons licensing at my disposal.
		I went back in and checked out <a href="urn:isbn:0448418630">The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle</a> as originally planned, though I kept the graphic novel just in case I couldn&apos;t find anything online.
	</p>
	<p>
		I tried again to find free graphic novels online, this time searching for ones under a free license instead of those with expired copyrights.
		I failed though.
		I found nothing.
		I ended up reading the one I checked out, <a href="urn:isbn:9781626724525">Demon Volume 1</a>.
		It was interesting, I suppose, but it ends on a cliffhanger.
		As the series is proprietary, I won&apos;t be reading the next volume to see what happens.
	</p>
	<p>
		I turned in a volunteer application at the local Catholic Community Services office.
		I&apos;m no Catholic (I&apos;m an atheist), but they&apos;re local and might want help.
		It&apos;s not too far from home, either, and I can get the volunteering item checked off my list.
	</p>
	<p>
		I attended a seminar on self-publishing at the library.
		For some reason, I was under the impression that it was a seminar on writing, which is why I chose this particular seminar.
		No matter though.
		I still learned a few interesting things.
		First, when you publish, you need to be careful about who owns your <abbr title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</abbr>.
		Whoever owns the <abbr title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</abbr> is considered to be the publisher and has full control over your book&apos;s distribution.
		If you go through a channel that provides a gratis <abbr title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</abbr>, it&apos;s probably not gratis at all.
		They&apos;re not giving you ownership of the <abbr title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</abbr>; they&apos;re keeping it for themselves, and can veto any distribution of the book that they don&apos;t like or that doesn&apos;t make them money.
		Instead, you need to buy your own <abbr title="International Standard Book Number">ISBN</abbr>.
		Next, there seems to be something called Preassigned Control Numbers.
		If you agree to send them a copy of your book when it&apos;s complete, they&apos;ll give you one of these numbers.
		While the presenter pushed that you should get one of these numbers, there doesn&apos;t seem to be any advantage to doing so.
		I&apos;d say you might as well, but getting one of those Preassigned Control Numbers requires passing through a CloudFlare <abbr title="Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart">CAPTCHA</abbr> wall, so on principle, I&apos;d say just to ignore the Library of Congress and their numbers.
		Just don&apos;t get a Preassigned Control Number.
		Next, the <abbr title="electronic publication">EPUB</abbr> file format is based on <abbr title="Extensible Hypertext Markup Language">XHTML</abbr>.
		There&apos;s a way to convert from <abbr title="Extensible Hypertext Markup Language">XHTML</abbr> to $[EPUB], though I&apos;d need to locate the software to do it.
		<abbr title="electronic publication">EPUB</abbr> files are important for the same reason <abbr title="Extensible Hypertext Markup Language">XHTML</abbr>/<abbr title="Hypertext Markup Language">HTML</abbr> files are: they allow content to flow according to window/screen size, unlike <abbr title="Portable Document Format">PDF</abbr> files.
		Lastly, MOBI files are in a proprietary format, so it might be good to avoid them.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="mental">
	<h2>Mental health watch</h2>
	<p>
		I haven&apos;t really been feeling very gay over the past few days.
		Even before the <abbr title="human immunodeficiency virus">HIV</abbr> scare, I started wondering if I even want a partner at all.
		This started a couple days before the festival.
		I started questioning, wondering if I might not be gay after all.
		Maybe I was going through some strange emotional stuff.
		But no.
		I feel it again today.
		I&apos;m not having any cravings or anything, but my gayness is still certainly with me.
		That&apos;s good.
		I&apos;ve just come to terms with what I am, so having another drastic change in my self-perception is <strong>*not*</strong> what I need right now.
		My heart can be whatever, but it needs to make up its mind.
		I can deal with being gay, but only if I&apos;m going to stay gay for the next while, until I can regain more of my emotional stability.
		I don&apos;t think I have to worry about that too much though; I think I&apos;m going to be gay forever.
		Sexuality is said to be fluid in some people, but I think my own is pretty unyielding.
		If my heart couldn&apos;t be reshaped when I was trying to reshape it, it&apos;s probably not going to reshape on its own.
	</p>
	<p>
		To be clear though, I&apos;m still a loner, I think.
		Unless that changes or has changed, it&apos;s unlikely I&apos;ll decide to find a boyfriend.
		I might be more social when I have more time in my life though.
		Once I&apos;m out of school, I might be more interested in going out with friends and/or dating.
		Now that my sexuality has made its presence known to me and has crammed itself down my throat, forcing me to accept it, it&apos;s pretty much leaving me alone.
	</p>
</section>
<section id="jobhunt">
	<h2>Job hunt</h2>
	<p>
		I was a bit too nervous to ask my neighbour to be my emergency contact, but after my bike got jacked, I did sit down and speak with them.
		I was going to just put down my own number as my emergency contact, but thanks to a series of tangents, only the last of which was intentional on my part, they offered to be my emergency contact and I didn&apos;t even need to ask.
		They recommended I try to get a bike at bring.
		I agreed, but mentioned the long walk.
		They said I could take the bus.
		I disagreed on the grounds that the bus burns fossil fuels.
		They asked if I&apos;d ever consider driving a car.
		I said I would if it were an electric car and I had someone to teach me how to drive.
		They asked about why my mother didn&apos;t teach me.
		I admitted that I had no idea why my mother didn&apos;t teach me before, but that at this point, I wouldn&apos;t want her to because she&apos;s crazy and I don&apos;t want her taking part in my life beyond basic conversation.
		I said could have my sister teach me if she was here instead of Gresham.
		Then, as my intentional tangent, I mentioned that I have no one in the area, and that it&apos;s causing me issues in job hunting, as they demand an emergency contact.
		My neighbour, thankfully, volunteered.
		I guess like my mother, I like when others offer.
		However, unlike my mother, I wouldn&apos;t have blamed my neighbour for not offering if they hadn&apos;t.
		I would&apos;ve blamed myself for not asking.
	</p>
	<p>
		I&apos;ll work on job-hunting the day after tomorrow, maybe.
		I&apos;m too frustrated about the stolen bike to do it today, and I&apos;ll be on a bike hunt tomorrow.
	</p>
</section>
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